All investments have different levels for each characteristics (4S) above.Let's take a few examples.

A) 4D lottery tickets.

1) High Returns (Super)
With $1 bet ('investment') the returns can be very high. For example, a first prize of 4D ticket, you will get $2,000. That is a whooping 200,000% return of investment.

2) No Risk (Safety)
However, the safety is very low. The changes of you winning the 1st prize is at 1 number out of 10,000 numbers. That is 0.000001%. Most of the time, people will lose the $1 bet. But, many do not mind losing small amount for the potentially very high returns.

3) Fast Results (Speed)
Buying a 4D ticket is attractive because of the speed. When you buy on the race day, the results are known in the same night. That is less than 12 hours. People do not like to wait for a long time to get their returns.

4) Simple Process (Simple)

It is also very simple to buy/bet of a 4D ticket. You can get a number anywhere. Be it on a car that just met with an accident, in a dream, your phone number,your car, house, bill, queue number, receipt number etc. People also will buy the number on the speeding summon. If you do not have any number, you can also buy 'lucky pick'. The 4D computer will randomly choose a number for you. Everything is so easy.

B) For property investment
Property investment characteristics are very different.

1) Super
The property you bought can be get a high return rate provided you get in the right location.

2) Safety
In terms of risk, property has low, moderate or high risk.It depends a lot on location again.
Property has a value to it. It can be mortgage, as banks will not loan you the money if they find the propery has no value. Property prices has been increasing all the years, although it does drop during the market property bubble bust.

3) Speed
Speed is very slow. Property prices need time to grow. It depends on the location and the demand for the property.

4) Simple
The process is never simple.You must be able to spot a good potential before others. If you are slow, others had already bought earlier and sell to you. The price had already gone high. You need to read and do lots of research to get a good property.C) Investing in the Stock Market for the short term.

1) Super
The returns can be very high. Prices changes can be so fast that you can get a very high returns.

2) Safety
The risk of buying a stock market can be high if you do not have the expertise and skill. Many people got 'burned' during the economic crises and stock market crashed. As the price can change so fast, you may lose a lot during a short time.3) Speed
The speed is very high. Some people make lots of money doing contra trading. They speculate on the prices and buy before everybody else. If they manage to buy early, the price is still low. They then sell before everyone else, before the price crash.

4) Simple
The stocks are quite easy to buy. With the online trading, you can do it anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. You can also call your remisier to do the trading for you.

D) Investing in the Stock Market for the long term.

It is different characteristics if you buy stocks and keep for a long term.

1) Super
The returns can be very high. Prices of stock increases steadily over the long term as company profits increases over the years.

2) Safety
The risk of buying a stock market can be high if you do not have the
expertise and skill. Many people got 'burned' during the economic crises
and stock market crashed. Safety is increased if you invest
for long term in a good company with proven track records.

3) Speed
The speed is very high. Some people make lots of money doing contra
trading. They speculate on the prices and buy before everybody else. If
they manage to buy early, the price is still low. They then sell before
everyone else, before the price crash.

4) Simple
To pick a good stock, you have to do a lot of reading and
research. You also need to understand the company's business and potential
earnings. You need to be able to read the company annual reports to calculate the value in the company.

E) Unit Trust Investment

1) Super
In the long term, unit trust can give a moderate returns. If the funds are buying good stocks in an upmarket, the returns can be better..

2) Safety
The safety aspect is moderate. The unit trust returns can go up as well as down. As unit trust diversify their investments into many asset classes (stocks, bonds, money market) that the returns are low correlation to one another. The risk are further reduced if the fund buys into many other countries market.

3) Speed
The unit trust investment are for the medium to long term. You need some time to for the funds to gain some returns and pay for the initial service charge. If the market crashed, you may need to wait longer to gain back your capital.

4) Simple
It is quite simple to buy unit trust. You can contact any of the thousands of Unit Trust Consultants near you. The Unit Trust Consultant can explain to you on the risk and returns of your investments. It can be more complicated if you want to do Dollar Cost Averaging, Asset Allocation, Portfolio Review and Portfolio Rebalancing. To optimize your returns, you may want to do fund switching depending on the market conditions. Basically, you need to do some work to monitor your investments to optimize your investment returns.